DIY Vanellope von Schweetz Costume Inspired By Animator Mark Henn

As a fan of Disney movies and runDisney races, a DIY Vanellope von Schweetz Costume was bound to happen eventually. Here’s how I pulled my Vanellope von Schweetz costume together, inspired by an interview with Mark Henn, the Disney animator behind so many of the Disney Princesses! And as we all know, Vanellope absolutely is a Disney Princess. Here’s how Mark taught us to draw Vanellope and how you can turn yourself into Vanellope for your next costume needs. (Affiliate Links are included in this post).

During the Ralph Breaks the Internet Event, we were treated to so many incredible moments. This entire magical Disney-nerd dream experience was all thanks to a partnership with Disney Studios who hosted me for the trip in November.

You can catch up on the other Ralph Breaks the Internet Event posts through the list at the bottom of this post. Don’t forget to check them out!

Why am I bringing all this up again now? Because Ralph is going to break the internet again when you bring him home to your family!

Learning to Draw Vanellope With Mark Henn

One of my favorite sessions during the Ralph Breaks the Internet event was hanging out with “The Princess Guy,” legendary Disney animator Mark Henn. He taught us how to draw Vanellope and shared a little about his history with Walt Disney Animation Studios.

We had to know: did he really think that he could teach anyone and everyone how to draw?

Not to point fingers, but there were a few of us in the room who were a little skeptical of the whole idea!

Disney Animator Mark Henn taught our group how to draw Vanellope!

Okay, I was one of them. I’ve never had much of an artistic eye when it came to creating things, so I was just not expecting much to happen on my end.

Mark explained that he saw art and his own journey as a little like Larry Bird vs Magic Johnson. Bird had talent, sure, but he also worked his butt off to get to the level of play that he achieved.

I think having a natural talent certainly helps, but I’ve seen that other people through dilligence and hard work can get to a certain level! -Mark Henn, Disney Animator

We started off easy with some straight lines and circles. Vanellope’s proportions are similar to many classic animated characters, like Mickey.

Some sticks and a circle to get us started on drawing Vanellope.

At this stage, I was still skeptical. I mean, how do a few sticks and a circle turn into the adorableness that is Princess Vanellope von Schweetz?

OH- and guess what? There were no erasers on our pencils! GULP.

But have no fear, Mark Henn knows what he’s doing. And he was able to get us where we needed to go. -ish, anyway.

As Mark continued to draw, even I could pick up where we were going with this fun character.

Adding in the facial features helped seal the deal for me immensely.

He also pointed out as we drew the eyes that one of the things CGI (computer-generated imagery) knows is just how thick a character’s eyes are supposed to be.

Even though it’s simulated, with CG you are dealing with the light refracting off the back of the eye- which makes it looks much more real!

Vanellope’s hair is kinda like a Hershey’s Kiss, on top of her head, and then the pony-tail goes out of the point where the licorice ties are located.

At this point, I kept looking around at everyone else’s drawings hoping mine was at least recognizable.

Mark kept cheering us on and telling us that our drawings looked pretty good!

AKA, that time Mark Henn lied to us. Ha!

What do you think? I’d say my version was not near the best, but not the worst, Vanellope in the room.

This was one of those “pinch me is it real life?” moments that happen when you get to work with Disney. I mean, I was just taught how to draw by THE Mark Henn! This ranks right up there with the time Aladdin animator Eric Goldberg drew me my very own Genie.

So very, very, VERY cool.

While my drawing skills need a little more work, at least I know my Disneybounding/costume creating skills are on point. And Vanellope has been one of my most favorite costumes to put together yet!

Vanellope Von Schweets Hoodie

I did order a size up from normal so it had a little extra room because these hoodies are meant to be a little more close to the body. I’m usually an XL in shirts; this hoodie is a 2XL.

I wanted to find a Vanellope von Schweetz costume tank top, in mint green, with a hoodie since this was for a run, but only had luck in the men’s versions. And they looked way too boxy on me so I sent them back.

I simply tied the end of my hot pink yarn laces to end of the drawstring that came with the hoodie. Then I pulled the pink through, removed the green, and voila! That part was easy.

I then cut small sections of the same yarn I was working with for the highlights on her shirt.

Yarn isn’t easy to thread through a needle unless you have a really big one, so I elected to go ahead and hot glue gun these down.

Honestly, this only needs to last for 2 events, and then I’m going to repurpose as a normal sweatshirt (because, see above, I LOVE IT SO MUCH!) so I didn’t worry about the placement of these parts becoming too permanent.

So the Wreck It Ralph Vanellope costume sweatshirt was done!

Now on to the leggings.

Wreck It Ralph Vanellope Von Schweets Costume DIY Leggings

First of all: if you don’t want to mess with all this (and yup, it’s a mess!) then go ahead and be smart. Skip the DIY and head over to Amazon and just buy these Vanellope leggings premade.

Wreck-It Ralph Vanellope Costume Skirt

This is a simple circle skirt that I’m sure you could sew quickly if that’s in your wheelhouse.

It’s not in mine, so Amazon again. (Those guys love me!)

You could also use a brown Sparkle Athletic skirt for a race weekend.

Not 100% necessary, but I already owned them so they are going to the runDisney race with me: skate boot covers. Vanellope wears black shoes in the movies; so my shoes will be too!

This Wreck-It Ralph Vanellope costume is fully runnable and also pretty comfortable. It was perfect for the 5K!

Look, y’all! I’m a racer!

The costume in action at a runDisney event.

Ralph Breaks the Internet Event

In early November 2018, I spent a few days learning about the making of the hit movie, Ralph Breaks the Internet. We interviewed the animators, the folks behind The Void experience, and the Princess Scene creator as well! Plus there was a little red carpet walking as Snow White. Here are all the details in case you missed them!

Patty Holliday

If she isn’t chasing her four kids around Northern Virginia, Patty is chasing four bars on her phone to share her authentic and fun stories on social media and her blog, My No-Guilt Life. She’s also one half of the Marvel Moms, an online community for discussing the Marvel fandom. You can catch up on her runDisney fun at No-Guilt Disney.